2nd Millennium Research Articles

Вопросы истоков и развития текстильной культуры в позднем бронзовом веке Южного Урала

At the turn of the 3rd / 2nd millennium BC textile artifacts (fabric impressions on ceramics and organic samples) were widespread in the Southern Urals. The paper is devoted to identifying the possible origins of the Sintashta and Alakul textile technologies by comparing them with the data about the products from adjacent territorial and chronological frames. The comparison criteria are the components of the textile culture (raw materials, technology, decoration and application), according to which the sources of the Trans-Ural Eneolithic, Yamnaya, Catacomb, Andronovo communities are systematized. Such innovative technologies as weaving, woolen threads, madder dyeing were first noted in the South Trans-Urals in the Sintashta materials and find their closest parallels in the catacomb materials. The Sintashta, Petrovka and Alakul antiquities demonstrate a single textile technology, organically integrated into the Srubno-Andronovo “world” of steppe and forest-steppe cattle-breeding cultures of Northern Eurasia.

Mõningad märkused nelja ilmakaare kuninga ja jumal-kuninga kontseptsiooni kohta Sumeris ja Akkadis 3. at eKr

This article is dedicated to the issues related to the King of the Four Corners and the God-King in ancient Sumer and Akkad in the 3rd millennium BCE. The author shows that the title King of the Four Corners has always deified the ruler, but the ruler who used the title King of the Universe never claimed divinity. What conclusions can we draw? Except in two cases – the case of Erri-dupizir and the case of Utu-ḫeĝal – all kings who used the title king of the four corners were deified. Erri-dupizir was a foreigner, more a warlord or tribal chief of the Gutians than a king, but he tried to legitimate his power by using Akkadian-Sumerian formulas, among them royal titles. Utu-ḫeĝal freed Sumer from the Gutians’ yoke and re-introduced old Sumero-Akkadian ideological elements, among them the king of the four corners, because he wanted to be as powerful and strong as the Akkadian king Narām-Su’en, who was an example for Utu-ḫeĝal. We do not have any proof regarding the deification of Utu-ḫeĝal, as he ruled only 6–7 years, and we have only a few texts from the time of his reign. More interesting is the fact that none of the Sumerian or Akkadian kings who used the title king of the universe in the 3rd millennium and even in the early 2nd millennium BCE (Isin-Larsa period) were deified (at least we do not have a firm proof). How to explain this phenomenon? Firstly, I think the title king of the four corners had a slightly different meaning than king of the universe; however, both are universalistic titles. The title king of the four corners was probably seen as a wider and more important universalistic title in the sense not only of universal rule, but also of ruling the divine universe and divine spheres (heaven, sun, stars, etc.). It seems that it included some kind of divine aspect, while at least the Sumerian version of the title lugal an-ubda-limmuba means “king of the heaven’s four corners”. The title king of the four corners was related to the universe order, to the sun and the cosmos, and to cosmic divine powers, and they were connected to the universal order. We can see that sometimes the title king of the four corners was used to refer to gods in Ancient Mesopotamia – for example in the case of the god Tišpak in Ešnunna – but never king of the universe. Secondly, early dynastic rulers (e.g. Lagash or Uruk), who never used universalistic titles for themselves, addressed universalistic expressions and epithets to the main gods – e.g., Enlil, Ningirsu, etc. For example, Lugal-kiğine-dudu of Uruk claimed: “Enlil, king of all lands, for Lugal-kiğine-dudu – when the god Enlil truly summoned him, and (Enlil) combined (both) lordship and kingship for him”. Thirdly, ruling over all the lands from east to west or over the corners of the universe – these epithets may be used for gods. LUGAL KIŠ (later Akkadian šar kiššati(m)) in its early original meaning was seen only as “ruler over Kiš (or ruler over (the northern part of) Sumer)”; it was an important though more regional and geographic title. Fourthly, only much later did it acquire the meaning king of the universe but I am not sure about that meaning at all. In that case, king of the four corners had a different meaning; the title designated not only ruling over the world but it probably included some kind of divine aspect as well (Michalowski 2010). In that case the title šar kibrāt arbaˀi(m) – king of the four corners could be seen as more universal than LUGAL KIŠ (šar kiššati(m)). There still remain several questions which need to be solved: * Was LUGAL KIŠ in its Akkadian form šar kiššati(m) a universalistic title at all? * Or was LUGAL KIŠ a hegemonic title showing certain hegemonic rule or lordship over (all) Sumer (and Akkad?) but not including the whole world (here: Mesopotamia)? * Could it be for this reason that the king who used the title king of the four corners had to be deified but the king who was LUGAL KIŠ had not?

Open canopy forests of the loess regions of southern Poland: A review based on wood charcoal assemblages from Neolithic and Bronze Age archaeological sites

This review paper presents a comprehensive study of all available up to date anthracological assemblages recovered from 79 archaeological settlements of the Neolithic and Bronze Age periods from the loess regions of southern-Poland. The aim of the research is to reconstruct the character of the woodland developed in the loess belt (1) in the Atlantic phase, with a focus on the primeval forests, the successive cultural phases and their impact on local forests, and (2) in the Subatlantic phase, characterized by a late-migrating of trees such as hornbeam, beech and fir. For the Early Neolithic period, related with the first appearance of the stable and agrarian settlement, the research aims at testing the hypothesis about the existence of open oak-dominated forests in the Atlantic phase , with patches of steppe-like vegetation. The anthracological data indicate that indeed open canopy forests prevailed in the loess-mantled areas and this result has important implications for understanding the expansion of the first farmers into Central Europe, who settled mainly in loess belt zones. It is likely that open oakwoods played a significant role in the selection of the landscape suitable for settle down as well as was an indicator of rich soils developed on loess-substratum. Finally, the last-arriving trees in southern Poland, that are principal constituents of present-day forests communities, appeared in high shares in the second half of the 2nd millennium BC, but became important forest components mostly in the Carpathian Foothills.

New evidence of long-distance interaction across the Himalayas: Faience beads from Western Tibet

Abstract Faience beads have been excavated from the Gebusailu site in western Tibet and date back as far as the second half of the 2nd millennium BC. As the earliest faience found on the Tibetan Plateau so far, these beads provide important evidence for the cross-regional exchange in the pre-historic western Tibet. Randomly selected thirteen samples were analyzed by SR-μCT, EPMA and LA-ICP-MS. The CT slices suggested that the structure of the samples was formed on cylindrical core and glazed by cementation. The glaze recipes indicate the samples can be classified as soda-rich faience with pure copper ore, the scrap or oxidation product of the copper metal, as the possible colorant. Those beads were possibly imported from Egypt or somewhere impacted by the Egyptian faience production technology. This implies that the ethnic groups on the plateau or other regions already crossed the Himalayas and integrated into the treasure exchange network of Eurasia, making the decorative luxury commodities penetrate to the Tibetan Plateau in 3500 years ago.

Lumbar spondylolysis in ancient Siberian Eskimo

AbstractPrevious studies have shown that North American and Greenland Arctic groups are characterized by high incidence of spondylolysis. The hypotheses explaining the high predilection to spondylolysis in these populations range from genetic predisposition to lifestyle characteristics. To date, however, no study assessed the presence of spondylolysis in the Siberian Eskimo. Thus, the current study presents new data from the Asian side of the Beringia, the original homeland of the North American and Greenland Inuit groups. The skeletal material originates from the Ekven burial site in Chukchi Peninsula, Russia. Most burials belong to the Old Bering Sea tradition of marine mammal hunters, embracing the period from the beginning of the 1st to the beginning of the 2nd millennium AD. Totally, 71 individuals were studied. Spondylolysis was present in 38% of individuals and in 11% of studied lumbar vertebrae, with higher incidence in juveniles and young adults compared with other ages and in males compared with females. There was an evident increase in the severity of the stress fractures from adolescence to middle adulthood (i.e., more vertebrae affected per individual and higher proportion of bilateral fractures). The reported incidence of spondylolysis in the Ekven is in the range of the values reported for the North American and Greenland Inuit groups and is expectedly high against the values for groups of European and African ancestry. Although the accumulation of gene variants responsible for spondylolysis in Arctic groups is possible, it is more plausible that some adaptive morphological characteristics make them prone to fatigue fractures of the lower spine in the conditions of the specific physical activity.

Characterization of Gray-Black Stone Pillars of the Achaemenid Palace of Charkhab Borazja

Characterization of Gray-Black Stone Pillars of the Achaemenid Palace of Charkhab Borazja

Water Transport in 2nd Millennium BC Babylonia and Mari: Its Organization and Economic Importance

Water Transport in 2nd Millennium BC Babylonia and Mari: Its Organization and Economic Importance

Iron oxide concretions as raw material for iron IIA iron metallurgy in the southern Levant: New evidence from Tel Beth-Shemesh, Israel

Recent discovery and analysis of a series of iron production and manufacture sites and installations in the southern Levant opened the door for a variety of important studies concerning iron metallurgy in the region. However, the provenance of raw materials used to produce iron artifacts in the majority of these sites still eludes us. Based on new analytical data the present study suggests that the source of iron worked in the 9th century BCE iron smithy excavated at Tel Beth-Shemesh is local and comprises iron oxide concretions that are abundant at a few locations in the close vicinity of the site, and could have been easily collected for processing. This suggestion further emphasizes the localized and idiosyncratic character of the Iron Age sociotechnic systems of iron metallurgy which conspicuously differed from the complex international system of copper and tin trade that characterized the bronze industry of the 2nd millennium BCE in the region.

Sicily Before the Greeks. The Interaction with Aegean and the Levant in the Pre-colonial Era

AbstractThe relationship between Sicily and the eastern Mediterranean – namely Aegean, Cyprus and the Levant – represents one of the most intriguing facets of the prehistory of the island. The frequent and periodical contact with foreign cultures were a trigger for a gradual process of socio-political evolution of the indigenous community. Such relationship, already in inception during the Neolithic and the Copper Age, grew into a cultural phenomenon ruled by complex dynamics and multiple variables that ranged from the Mid-3rd to the end of the 2nd millennium BCE. In over 1,500 years, a very large quantity of Aegean and Levantine type materials have been identified in Sicily alongside with example of unusual local material culture traditionally interpreted as resulting from external influence. To summarize all the evidence during such long period and critically address it in order to attempt historical reconstructions is a Herculean labor.Twenty years after Sebastiano Tusa embraced this challenge for the first time, this paper takes stock on two decades of new discoveries and research reassessing a vast amount of literature, mostly published in Italian and in regional journals, while also address the outcomes of new archaeometric studies. The in-depth survey offers a new perspective of general trends in this East-West relationship which conditioned the subsequent events of the Greek and Phoenician colonization of Sicily.

Chromium crucible steel was first made in Persia

For more than a century, evidence for the production of crucible steel in Central and Southern Asia, prior to the European Industrial Revolution, has fascinated and challenged material scientists, historians and archaeologists. At the same time, chromium-alloyed stainless steel was developed in the early 20th century, building upon 19th century experiments with low chromium steel. Here we demonstrate new evidence of the intentional addition of chromium to steel nearly a millennium earlier, as part of the Persian crucible steel (pulad) tradition including the production of low-chromium crucible steel in early 2nd millennium CE Persia. We analysed archaeological finds from the 11th c. CE site of Chahak in Iran showing the intentional and regular addition of chromium mineral to the crucible charge, resulting in steel containing around 1 wt% chromium. A contemporaneous crucible steel flint striker held in the Tanavoli Collection is reported to also contain chromium, suggesting its origin from Chahak. We argue that the mysterious compound ‘rusakhtaj’ from Biruni's (10th – 11th c. CE) recipe for crucible steel making refers to the mineral chromite. Additional historical sources up to the mid-2nd millennium CE refer to crucible steel from Chahak as being particularly brittle, consistent with its increased phosphorus content.

Resin-coated beads in Iberian Late Prehistory (3rd–2nd millennia BCE)

ABSTRACT A group of beads from the artificial cave of La Molina (Lora de Estepa, Sevilla) and Cova del Gegant (Sitges, Barcelona) were made from biogenic raw material and intentionally covered by a layer of resin. This is the first time this type of treatment has been documented on elements of adornment in the Late Prehistory of the Iberian Peninsula. The composition and nature of the coatings are analyzed and the symbolic role of such alterations and imitations of prehistoric adornments is discussed.

Silk Roads: Peoples, Cultures, Landscapes. Edited by Susan Whitfield (Berkeley, University of California Press, 2019) 480 pp. $65.00

An expansive definition of the Silk Roads shapes this striking volume, which measures 9 by 11.5 inches, weighs more than 5 pounds, and contains 450 color photographs and 200 black-and-white images, many of them difficult-to-obtain shots of extraordinarily high quality. Whitfield articulates her subject at the start of the book as “a system of substantial and persistent overlapping and evolving interregional trade networks across Afro-Eurasia by land and sea from the end of the first millennium BCE through to the middle of the 2nd millennium CE, trading in silk and many other raw materials and manufactured items—including, but not limited to, slaves, horses, semi-precious stones, metals, pots, musk, medicines, glass, furs and fruits—resulting in movements and exchanges of peoples, ideas, technologies, faiths, languages, scripts, iconographies, stories, music, dance and so on” (15). In sum, this volume aims to cover every item and idea that moved anywhere in Afro-Eurasia between 200 b.c.e. and 1500 c.e. and that has left any traces in the historical record.A detailed, legible two-page map illustrates the geographical scope of the volume—as far west as Great Britain, north to St. Petersburg and Siberia (but not the Arctic), east to Japan, and south to southeast Asia (but not Australia) and Sofala on the Mozambican coast of Africa (8–9). An inset map highlights Sogdiana, Bactria, and Gandhara, regions of Central Asia falling under the narrower definition of the Silk Roads.That same map appears at the start of each geographical section of the book— “Steppe,” “Mountains and Highlands,” “Deserts and Oases,” “Rivers and Plains,” and “Seas and Skies”—with page numbers superimposed on the map to guide readers to the scenery, objects, historical photographs, and maps illustrated in that section. This innovative structure allows readers with no previous knowledge to choose a point on the map to investigate.Pictures come first in this book. The photographs are larger, clearer, and more opulent than in any other book about the Silk Road. The lavish illustrations leave little room for text. Consider the “Deserts and Oases” section, which covers the traditional Silk Road through Central Asia. A full-page illustration of the Taklamakan Desert’s black poplars in autumnal foliage and a half-page of camels in the Sahara precede more detailed photos of the Keriya oasis, Petra’s pools, and the ruins of Palmyra, Merv, Jiaohe, and Khotan.In the overview chapter, Tim Williams describes the main deserts of Afro-Eurasia—the Gobi, the Taklamakan, the Lop, the Kizilkum and the Karakum, the Thar, the Dasht-e Lut and Dasht-e Kavir, the Syrian, the Sahara—in less than two pages. The tight word count means that the lead authors can sketch the geography and highlight a dynasty or an individual, all the while emphasizing the book’s theme of connectivity. Top experts in the field write the individual pages devoted to specific sites; these descriptions, too, are brief, but they list as many as five suggestions for further readings, for which the bibliography provides full references (447–465).The field of Silk Road studies has always drawn on multiple disciplines—most importantly, archaeology, history, art history, and religious studies—and the contributors to this volume (and the authors of the many items in the bibliography) do so as well. The volume’s entries are too brief to give readers much sense of the debates that continue to guide the field. Yes, objects, ideas, and religions moved across regions, but who carried them? Why did they move in one period but not in another? Where did they have the greatest impact? Scholars who are interested in such questions will have to consult the remarkably detailed bibliography.Much more than yet another coffee-table book about the Silk Roads, this volume offers a first-rate illustrative program supported by cutting-edge scholarship. Readers of all types, from the merely curious to scholars who have devoted their careers to the field, will find themselves returning to its lavishly illustrated pages and maps time and time again.

Integrating Multi-Scalar Sampling Strategies for Archaeological Sediment Chemistry

ABSTRACT Archaeological sediment chemistry is a method for using the distribution of chemical elements across a site or landscape to elucidate site boundaries, site structures, and use of space. Archaeologists have sought to implement it at a number of scales, from the analysis of single excavated features to site prospection in regional survey. This article presents a model for an ongoing, multi-scalar collection strategy that builds on previous global work in sediment chemistry. Analyzed data derive from the Bronze Age (2nd millennium b.c.) citadel of Kaymakçı, Turkey. The article presents the results of laboratory x-ray fluorescence (XRF) analysis of both surface and sub-surface samples associated with one excavation area to test the effectiveness of different sample collection strategies by analyzing relationships between sample chemical signatures. The results suggest that a multi-scalar geochemical dataset aids in intra-site feature prospection, site stratigraphy, and nuanced interpretations of the use of space.

Compositional and microstructural outlook of grave goods from Anta do Malhão and Soalheironas (Portugal): The diachronic use of arsenical copper in southwestern Iberian Peninsula

Although in recent years the prehistoric metallurgy of southwestern Iberian Peninsula has become increasingly well understood, the southernmost region still requires additional research. This work presents the technological study of artefacts from burial contexts located in this area, namely the necropolises of Anta do Malhão and Soalheironas (Algarve region). Typologies of metalwork and pottery ascribe the single inhumation at Anta do Malhão to a late phase of the “Ferradeira Horizon” (last quarter of the 3rd millennium BC), while assigning the necropolis of cists at Soalheironas to an earlier phase of the Middle Bronze Age (1st half of the 2nd millennium BC). The elemental and microstructural composition of artefacts was established by micro-energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence spectrometry, optical microscopy and scanning electron microscopy with X-ray microanalysis. Results show artefacts made of arsenical copper alloys (2.01–3.40% As) with very low iron content (<0.05% Fe). The microstructures display deformed equiaxed grains with annealing twins and slip bands, evidencing cycles of hammering and annealing, followed by a finishing hammering operation. The integration of results in the prehistoric metallurgy of southwestern Iberian Peninsula suggests a shared technological tradition, while a more comprehensive discussion discloses important developments involving the increased production of strain-hardened tools and weapons, together with a rising substitution of the copper metal by arsenical copper alloys from the 3rd to the 2nd millennium BC.

New AMS 14C dates track the arrival and spread of broomcorn millet cultivation and agricultural change in prehistoric Europe

Broomcorn millet (Panicum miliaceum L.) is not one of the founder crops domesticated in Southwest Asia in the early Holocene, but was domesticated in northeast China by 6000 bc. In Europe, millet was reported in Early Neolithic contexts formed by 6000 bc, but recent radiocarbon dating of a dozen 'early' grains cast doubt on these claims. Archaeobotanical evidence reveals that millet was common in Europe from the 2nd millennium bc, when major societal and economic transformations took place in the Bronze Age. We conducted an extensive programme of AMS-dating of charred broomcorn millet grains from 75 prehistoric sites in Europe. Our Bayesian model reveals that millet cultivation began in Europe at the earliest during the sixteenth century bc, and spread rapidly during the fifteenth/fourteenth centuries bc. Broomcorn millet succeeds in exceptionally wide range of growing conditions and completes its lifecycle in less than three summer months. Offering an additional harvest and thus surplus food/fodder, it likely was a transformative innovation in European prehistoric agriculture previously based mainly on (winter) cropping of wheat and barley. We provide a new, high-resolution chronological framework for this key agricultural development that likely contributed to far-reaching changes in lifestyle in late 2nd millennium bc Europe.

Altaicization and De-Altaicization of Japonic and Koreanic

Abstract This article discusses 40 grammatical features in Japonic and Koreanic in relation to their neighbouring languages in Northeast Asia. The data comprise 66 modern language varieties of 13 different linguistic affinities, and 12 historical languages (including Old and Middle Japanese and Old and Middle Korean). The results generated from a computational phylogenetic tool show a significant distance in the typological profiles of three main clades: Northeast Asian, Japonic-Koreanic, and Sinitic spheres. Typologically, the Japonic and Koreanic languages form a common grammatical type by sharing up to 26/40 features. By tracing their attestation in the historical languages we can see that the converged grammars are likely to be results of typological Altaicization and de-Altaicization. The combination of linguistic and historical evidence points to a chronology in which Japonic and Koreanic had mutually converged by Altaicization and de-Altaicization, respectively, during the 1st millennium BC and AD before eventually diverging in the 2nd millennium AD.

TEMPO AND TRAJECTORY OF THE BUILT LANDSCAPE ON TA‘Ū ISLAND, MANU‘A GROUP, AMERICAN SĀMOA: INTEGRATING EXTENSIVE RADIOCARBON DATING WITH JOINT POSTERIOR MODELING

ABSTRACTStone and earthen architecture is nearly ubiquitous in the archaeological record of Pacific islands. The construction of this architecture is tied to a range of socio-political processes, and the temporal patterning of these features is useful for understanding the rate at which populations grew, innovation occurred, and social inequality emerged. Unfortunately, this temporal patterning is poorly understood for many areas of the region, including the Sāmoan archipelago. Here, we describe a project directed toward establishing a robust chronology for the construction of these earthen and stone terraces and linear mounds on Ta‘ū Island. Using recent methodological improvements, we highlight the tempo at which different architectural types were constructed on the island and the implications for understanding demographic expansion and changing land tenure practices in the last 1500 years. This research suggests the construction of architecture was largely confined to the 2nd millennium AD with a small number of terraces plausibly built in the 1st millennium AD. This temporal patterning suggests that a reconfiguration of settlement patterns occurred within West Polynesia as people there moved into other regions of Oceania.

The Daily Routine of the Pile-Dwellers at Ljubljansko Barje

Ljubljansko barje is best known in archaeology for the remains of the lives of the pile-dwellers who settled it, albeit with intermissions, from approximately the middle of the 5th until the second half of the 2nd millennium BC. These remains are an exceptional source of information about life in prehistory, and it is planned to carry out interdisciplinary research to enable a relatively reliable insight into the daily routine of the time.

On the Earliest Representations of Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes): Were African Apes Traded to Bronze Age Elam?

There is no literature referring to the ancient iconographic depiction of apes in the eastern circum-Mediterranean region and the Near East. Written reports such as the Old Testament mention apes, but this may be a reference to monkeys, while Hanno the Carthaginian Navigator referred to chimpanzees in the 5th–6th century BC. Here we describe two marble figures, belonging to a private gallery, allegedly from Middle Bronze Age Elam. They represent a “seated monkey” and a “crouched monkey.” Detailed observation and analysis of the morphological characters of both figures show that they almost certainly represent chimpanzees. If the dates and provenance of this material are correct, they are the earliest known representations of African apes. It would follow that chimpanzees were traded, as living animals, as artifacts or imageries, along an extended distance from the Central African forests to the east coast of Africa towards Elam, by the 2nd millennium BC. Alternatively, the figures may date from the Roman period, in which case the circulation of these apes or ape representations occurred centuries later, possibly from other parts of Africa. As these figures are relevant for the archaeoprimatological record, their archeological contexts require further detailed studies. Nevertheless, whether the figures are of Elamite or Roman origin, they are the earliest known representations of chimpanzees.

On the Earliest Use of Plate-Formed Cheekpieces and the Emergence of Horse Riding (Based on Finds from the Novoilyinovskiy II Cemetery in Northern Kazakhstan)

This study addresses the description, use-wear analysis, and date of three plate-formed cheekpieces from kurgan 5 at Novoilyinovskiy II, Kazakhstan. They were found in the same context with two sacrificed horses (a stallion and a mare), placed on the bottom of a ritual pit in the “flying gallop” posture. The emergence of horse riding, marking a new type of mobility and warfare, has been traditionally dated to ca 900 BC. However, cheekpieces suggest that this process spanned the entire 2nd millennium BC. They testify to the evolution of horsemanship and the search for the most efficient means of controlling draft and riding horses. Results of the use-wear analysis suggest that all three specimens likely belonged to riding horses’ harnesses. Two AMS radiocarbon measurements referring to kurgan 5 suggest that these cheekpieces are among the earliest used for controlling riding rather than draft horses, implying that horse riding emerged on the Eurasian steppes as early as the beginning of the 2nd millennium BC.